Greetings from Central Square. Fellow reader Kevin O’Brien got stranded in Connecticut, so I’ve set up shop here, at the Starbucks just up the steps from the Red Line in Cambridge, MA. I’m posted in the corner and facing the red bricked Church In Cambridge, with my guitar, clothes and 50 copies of All in the wind in a black canvas bag. The rain is coming down. The following post was written on Tuesday in sunny Austin. If you’re reading this on the East Coast, please join us tonight, at the Mill Street Cantina in Bristol, PA, for a 2 hour set by Yours Truly. As always, thank you for reading. Your readership is my everything.

All’s quiet at the mansion. Almost. The roofers have loaded out and it’s just me and the Whistler. I can see him stacking supplies into the bed of his black Ram pickup from my window. Fuck outta here and get gone, so long motherfucker it’s been nice to know ya. What can I say? My problems are few. I can’t complain but I will. It’s been a long time that I should be far from here. But how often are our problems a mere cunt hair from their solution? Any punkrocker or spiritual guru will tell you that’s always true and today I’m one. That’s right. As much as it sucks here, I am getting on a plane tomorrow. Flying all the way across the country to do the work, and that’s the best part, the cherry on top of an already winning enterprise. I get to do the work. 2 readings and a rock show. Like I was born to and like I will be doing soon’s I quit this dog&pony for good, start maxing out my frequent flyer miles and living on a hope and a prayer.

The question of when I’m actually going to quit is bugging me. I hate hanging around, especially when I’m not welcome. Waiting to quit and get gone smacks too close to being afraid to live my dreams. And that will never do. Nothing to worry over, too much anyway. Many of these questions will answer themselves and I’m sure a taste of the road and the kind of weeks that are happening more and more will sort things out on a quantum level. That which is in motion tends to stay in motion kind of thing, a principle that’s worked for me ever since I enrolled in the Wilma Theatre School for Acting in 1998. Do the thing, anything, to keep the darkness at bay and the demons from closing in. It’s that easy. Starting, anyway, but starting always is. Keeping it going or even doubling down on the life of an Artist at 42 is a different ball of wax, and the pardox is it was easier to start when it felt hard. Now that the reasons for me to remain on the straight and narrow, and keep my nose down in a 9 to 5 are many and all but stacked against me, it’s a go and it couldn’t feel any easier. It’s the mechanics of the thing that will be the bugaboo. I’ve been well paid too long, and rather than figure things out I’ve just thrown money at them. Slowing down, being prepared, making informed decisions about the life I want to live is as foreign to me as anything else in the straight world. I been a pirate too long. I’ve thrived on chaos and am world famous for moving before you even know I’m gone.

It’ll all sort itself out I’m sure. The first order of business for me is to buy a car, maybe 2 if I want to keep my touring vehicle separate from the daily grind. Speaking of which, I will need a daily grind. Something I can make stacks of money at, and put to use booking flights and Air B&Bs, for book orders, and shirts and EPs-merch. I suppose once I buy a car I could begin booking Texas gigs, thereby making the transition that much smoother. I love how writing a blog straightens me out and I love that you take time out of your busy life to join me. Everything is easy and right, which could potentially hurt this blog-having nothing to complain about. Well…

…I’ve had to pull stakes and finish this post at the bougie coffee shop. Luckily they’re playing The Pixies&Interpol and not the soundtrack to your cousin’s wedding and a man can get some work done. I left the Whistler back there on the roof of the mansion. If you think there’s something wrong with a grown man moving into a 150 square foot cabin to live his dreams then you haven’t seen a man whistling outside your window like some mansize Mexican songbird, with a roofing trowel in a tar bucket and a shit eating grin. If these are my problems then what the hell am I complaining about-right Brother, Sister? There’s a 23 year old Jim Trainer drooling over my 42 year old problems, probably on a roof in the suburbs somewhere and hating that sub but…what are you gonna do, eh? Sometimes the worst kind of trouble is no trouble at all.

Jim Trainer is a communicator. Growing up in the hardcore scene of the early 90’s taught him everything he needed to know about real work. Jim Trainer believes in rock and roll. It may be our only salvation in this dark world. He’s carried the torch for independent media, broadcasting ... Continue reading →